Terms Which Have Disappeared

[tonyb]

^^^^^

Seattle allows, by code, living aboard boats. The "liveaboards" have their own advocacy groups. The people range from scruffy sorts in decrepit boats to well-paid professionals in million-dollar sailboats.

Within sight of one of the more desirable marinas (where many liveaboards reside) are old motorhomes and the like occupied by people who, by "living aboard" those land vehicles, are in technical violation of local code. It's legal to sleep in a motor vehicle, and it's legal to eat in a motor vehicle, and there's no prohibition on bathing in a motor vehicle. But it's not legal to live in a motor vehicle. So the authorities and the people living in their old motorhomes play a game. It's not legal to leave a vehicle parked in the same spot for some number of days (it's been awhile since I've looked into it), so the cops bang on the sides of the motorhomes and tell the occupants it's time to move along.

Me, I'd welcome motorhome havens, with "shore power" and coin-op showers and laundry facilities, as are found at the marinas serving the liveaboards. The resistance to such a thing is mostly class based. Living aboard boats has a certain cachet, and the waterborne are generally better educated, more politically savvy, and much more well-to-do than their land-based counterparts, and as such they are seen as more desirable neighbors. And in some ways, maybe they are. But the code that allows for living aboard a boat but not a motorhome has very little to do with public safety.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Out here some of the transients live in old recreational vehicles or motor homes which has led to friction with local residents in places like Venice Beach and Westchester where they park on the city streets and often empty out their septic tanks there.

I once lived in the swankiest tourist-trap/retiree town on the Maine coast -- and in the parking lot behind my apartment building you could usually find two or three rusted-out Econoline vans with people living in them. You could always tell when the owners had gone to bed for the night because there'd be a ratty old pair of sneakers set out on the ground behind the back of the van. Or two ratty old pairs of sneakers, depending on the circumstances.

 

[p51]

I once lived in the swankiest tourist-trap/retiree town on the Maine coast -- and in the parking lot behind my apartment building you could usually find two or three rusted-out Econoline vans with people living in them. You could always tell when the owners had gone to bed for the night because there'd be a ratty old pair of sneakers set out on the ground behind the back of the van. Or two ratty old pairs of sneakers, depending on the circumstances.

I can't understand why people never swiped said sneakers and tossed them somewhere.
Any way to motivate people like that out of there would be the mission of many locals, I'd think.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I think the Residents Of The Town wanted to pretend that parking lot didn't exist. It was also the number one place in the area for practitioners of The Oldest Profession to pick up johns.

 

[Stanley Doble]

There are campgrounds but a lot of them turn away trailers and motorhomes more than 10 years old. They want to keep out the riff raff.

I would like to show up with a 1985 Rolls Royce towing a 1985 Airstream 32 foot Excella and say 'how do you like me now?'

 

[Zombie_61]

...Out here some of the transients live in old recreational vehicles or motor homes which has led to friction with local residents in places like Venice Beach and Westchester where they park on the city streets and often empty out their septic tanks there.

Interesting that this topic should come up today, as this was one of the stories on this morning's news: Westchester Residents Say Squatters Have Turned Neighborhood Into Illegal Campground.

 

[p51]

In Seattle, they make a big deal about permanent camps for 'homeless' as if they're going to transition them into working taxpayers.
I worked in a copy place in college, between the Catholic church and the local rescue mission. All the transients pretty much centered on the neighborhood I worked in. It was especially annoying to know I was making very little money, working my backside off while paying for college, to be hit up on for money every single time I stepped out of the place (and sometimes they'd come in, panhandling). I got really good at snappy comebacks for their lines. The more elaborate the story was, the more likely it was BS. They'd never remember who they hit up and it was funny to hear the same story of a car part broke and they needed a specific amount to buy a new one (if you quizzed them on the part, they couldn't tell you how they knew it was that and they never would tell you where the car was, knowing that you might ask to look at it) several weeks after hearing the same story. I'd say things like, "You still haven't raised the $3.76? You've asked me for it a month ago!"
I came to the conclusion that there simply are people who want to live off others. Some people would rather work 10 hours to make less than half for the same amount of time at an honest job, because it's important to think they're getting something for nothing (when they're really not, for the time they put in).
The people at the rescue mission would come in for copies and they all confirmed I was right, too. They said to never give money to panhandlers, but instead to the places who will see its well spent for the people who really are on hard times and are working to get out.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^

Oh, that guy!

I think I bumped into him a couple of times myself. He ran some story by me about how he "broke" his oil filter (this after asking me if I knew anything about cars, because, you know, if a guy doesn't know anything about cars his **** will surely fall off) and how he needed 20 bucks to fix it so he could drive down to Tacoma to tend to his ailing mother. Nope, I said. Sorry.

It wasn't but a week or two later that the same guy ran the same story by me a second time. I remarked about how he has the worst luck with oil filters of any person on this planet. Oh, and how's your mother?

But, you know, at least he isn't a war profiteer.

 

[tonyb]

To kind of steer this back on topic, "trailer park" is a phrase the "manufactured housing" industry would gladly see go extinct.

I'd welcome more trailer parks, for reasons enumerated above. Real trailer parks, with real trailers (and motorhomes, etc.).

 

[p51]

For a while, I'd offer to look at their car to see if I could fix it, or offer to drive them to the auto parts place down the street to buy the part with their money and me making up the difference. They always had a reason why they couldn't do that. They'd never, EVER tell you where said car was, either.

Oh, that guy!

I think I bumped into him a couple of times myself.

Those types drive me nuts over the time I worked there. You couldn't even walk to the McDonald's next door without someone begging for change. In a short timeframe, when someone asked for change, I went from:
(with a guilty look in my eye) "Uh, sorry, I have no change"
to: (with a only slightly fed-up look in my eye) "Sorry, I can't help..."
to finally: (looking them dead in the eye with a look of determination) "Yep, I have plenty of change and I worked darned hard for it." -and then pushing on past them.
I remember a new girl at the shop. One day I took her down to our dumpsters to show her where they were and we encountered the same woman who we often threw out of the place. As she was opening her mouth for the sales pitch, I said to her, "Look, I'm a little down on my luck, do you have any change?" These are the exact words she always used. She just stood there, shaking, her eyes going back and forth, uttering, "But I... you're not... uh... but, but, but..."
The new employee thought I was a monster, and said so to me and my boss and anyone who'd listen. We all told her to bring it up again after a year or so if she still felt like that because we knew she wouldn't (they all thought my response was hilarious). Sure enough, several months later she came up to me one slow afternoon and brought that up. "I'm sorry I said all that, that first day," she said, "I totally get your response now."

 

[tonyb]

There's panhandlers, and then there's panhandlers.

Do buskers count? I vote no, even if some of them I'd pay if they would stop playing.

And some provide some level of entertainment just by their very presence. Not many, but some.

And some I am confident would be cured by a swift kick in the pants. Again, not many, but some.

Many are beyond any help I could possibly be to them. I suspect that many will be dead shortly, and well ahead of their time.

But I resist the temptation to moralize. In a culture with state-sponsored gambling and proliferating casinos, some small-time something-for-nothing operator is the least of my problems.

 

[p51]

There's panhandlers, and then there's panhandlers.

Do buskers count? I vote no, even if some of them I'd pay if they would stop playing.

Buskers? I'd never heard the word until just now. I had to look it up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_performance
It drove me nuts when I was stationed near DC in the Army, in the Mall area, people would just stand there shaking cups of change, as there had to be some kinds of laws preventing them from asking. I was back there in 2010 and I didn't see that anymore, thank Goodness.

 

[tonyb]

There are some very good buskers out there. And some who really suck.

If they're any good at all, they'll get at least a little loose change out of me.

This fellow here ...

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/sound...n-trades-in-trumpet-for-piano-concert-review/

... was a regular fixture around town. He'd really clean up at Mariners and Seahawks games, back in the Kingdome days. He was a self-taught musician, and perhaps the blattiest trumpeter I ever heard. But he was great, in his way.

 

[2jakes]

​

MEANING: To have a paralyzing or mesmerizing effect on someone.

ORIGIN: 17th century

​As in: Don’t look into his eyes. He’s so charismatic, you’ll be gorgonized.









27 Delightful Obsolete Words It's High Time We Revived

 

[Bamaboots]

Buskers: Spend any time in Memphis or New Orleans and you come to know what the term means.

 

[Stearmen]

You can always take your trailer to Aspen Colorado. Don't forget your check for a million dollars! Talk about trailer Trash. [video=youtube;NLHHoaFNwls]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLHHoaFNwls[/video]

 

[p51]

Buskers: Spend any time in Memphis or New Orleans and you come to know what the term means.

Funny, I've spent time in each city and I'd never heard it there, either...

 

[HudsonHawk]

Funny, I've spent time in each city and I'd never heard it there, either...

You find buskers in most cities, but they are everywhere in cities with big music scenes, especially New Orleans. You can't walk down the street without running into all manner of them, musicians, jugglers, fire eaters, human statues...you name it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We even have them here -- nearly all of them skinny twenty-year-olds who give you reason to regret the ongoing ukulele craze. We also have a juggler and a tap dancer.

 

[HudsonHawk]

We even have them here -- nearly all of them skinny twenty-year-olds who give you reason to regret the ongoing ukulele craze. We also have a juggler and a tap dancer.

At least in New Orleans there are some very good musicians. Of course, there are bad ones too.